I Wish You A ~*Happy New Day*~

Imagine folks walking around wishing one another a Happy New Day.

It's quite common place to be checking out through a store clerk and have
them say to you, "Thank you and have a good day", but has anyone ever
said to you..... "Thank you and have a happy new day"?    I can't recall it ever
having been said to me.   :)

Around this time of the year it's quite common for total strangers to
wish you....   Happy New Year. !!!     Hmmmmm all 366 days of 2008 Happy.
What a nice thought.    

Just maybe, the wish of Happy New Year from family, and friends, and total
strangers starts by waking up each morning and first off
wishing ourselves..........   ~*Happy New Day*~

And to all of you as you awake each morning of 2008.........

I wish you.... ~*Happy New Day*~

Blogging Etiquette

I wanted to share some info about 'blogging etiquette' and
was hunting around the net. I came upon this great blog
post over at tenforty.blogspot. Just click in the link to check
it out.


"Blogging etiquette, do's and don'ts in the blogging world -
These are some very simple rules every blogger ought to know".....


http://tenforty.blogspot.com/2007/10/basic-blogging-etiquette-dos-and-donts.html

For folks new to the blogging world - DO take the time to post a comment
on something you've read on someone's blog.
AND.... just as important, bloggers, DO take the time to acknowledge
comments made on your site. Reply back to the comments made.

I have heard bloggers say over and over how the dialog within their
comment area has sometimes been as important as the post
itself.

Some of My Kids - Christmas Eve

Kevin - Nicole - Vinny

I say... 'Some of my kids', because my 'daughter from another
Mother' - Kerri was not with us, and Vince's wife Dana, my
Daughter in law stayed in Texas for the holiday to be with her family.   

Adding a Reader Subscribe button

The reason to add a subscribe button to your site is to
send your new posts right to a reader's email or home page
web site.

Folks come on your site/blog to read, but unless they know that
new content has been added, they might forget to drop by.

I am rather new to Blogger - Blogspot as I have my main
blog at Typepad. The reason being my brother was with Typepad
and he suggested I start blogging nearly 3 years ago.
Blogger and Blogspot are free. In retrospect, I maybe should
have gone the freebee route. I pay something like $49 a year.

Anyway.... my intent of this post is to help folks new to blogger
understand how to set this 'feed' up.

One of the best and easiest free site to use is Feedburner.

Go to http://www.feedburner.com/ to sign up for a new account.

WELL.... don't go there quite yet. First off you will need
to copy the main URL - web address of your blog. Copy
that so it's in your buffer and you can paste it once you are at
the feedburner page.

As an example - Here is the URL to my other blog

http://deb_inside.typepad.com/

You just go to the top of your main blog page and copy the URL.
It's the same URL that you share with others when you are directing
them to your blog.

Now go to the Feedburner site.

Once you are at the site you will see these words:

Start FeedBurning Now. Type your feed or blog URL below

Into the peach colored box, add your site's URL. Hit the NEXT button.

I -THINK- it's at this point that Feedburner will ask
you to create a user name and password. I was doing
this step by step on Feedburner,
to make sure I had it all correct, but it did not ask me
because I am already a member. Just make a user name
and password and be SURE to write
them down for future use. !!!!!!!

A window will come up that says: Identify Feed Source

Choose the second button - You will see your blogs name and then RSS after it.

The next screen will say : Welcome! Let us burn a feed for you.

Scroll down the page just a little and click the Activate Feed button.

It will now say: Congrats! Your FeedBurner feed is now live.

At the bottom of the page it says this...

You have completed Step 1 of 2. In Step 2, you may consider
adding additional free FeedBurner Stats options for a more richly
detailed view of your feed readership.

I did not go on to that step.... but if you want to I'm sure it's step by step.

To add a feed or subscribe button to your site go to -
http://www.feedburner.com/

In the upper left corner you will see a blue link that says:
My Feeds - Click on that.

A page will open up where you see - Feed Title - and the
name of your blog. Click on the name of your blog.

The next page that opens up will have 5 tabs. Go to publicize
(click on the gray publicize tab)

In the left column under SERVICES - you will see email sububscriptions
click on that. Scroll down the middle of the page and you will see the words...
Use as a widget in ------------- There will be a drop down box that allows
you to choose Blogger. Then hit the GO button beside the drop down.
You will then need to click on the SAVE button at the very bottom of the page.

CONGRATS you have now added a button to your blog for email subscriptions.

NOW...... to add the second way for folks to subscribe... STAY WITH ME...
You are doing GREAT !!!!

On this same page under SERVICES.... look for the words :

Chicklet Chooser --- Click there.

When the new window opens up you will see a list of buttons.
ALREADY there will be a check mark - (tiny green circle) in the
first space. It will have an orange square button with white markings
on it. It says --- Subscribe in a reader.

Scroll down the page and near the bottom of the page locate the
drop down menu where you can pick - Blogger.

It will say ---- Use as a widget in -------------- Hit the Go button

A page will pop up that say.... Add Page Element

On this page - JUST CLICK the blue Add Widget button.....

and then it will be added to your blogger page.

IF anyone is confused, or needs a little help in
setting this up on their blog, please drop me
an email and I would be more than happy to
help you out.

AFMomDeb@aol.com

Spread The Love Now ! ~ Group Writing Project

Hey, That Rings A Bell

I believe that compassion is an inherent human quality tied to our

heart strings.   The pull of those heart strings rings a bell of sorts within

a human.   The pull of the heart string reverberates through our being and

triggers our consciousness into an emotional reaction.    

Bells are everywhere and they are certainly prominent at Christmas time.

The Salvation Army rings bells to inspire passers by to place donations of cash

inside red kettles.   In my ignorance, I assumed The Salvation Army was only

an American organization.   I’ve now learned it’s origin was in England in 1865 and

today The Salvation Army has offices in 131 countries.   

The movie, It’s a Wonderful Life is an exceptional movie showing the compassion

and caring of a community.    In the final scene, George Bailey is holding his young

daughter beside their Christmas tree……  A tiny bell on the tree magically rings by itself.

The daughter says….  “Teacher says, every time a bell rings, an Angel gets his wings.”

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern.

The film takes place in the fictional town of Bedford Falls shortly after World War II and stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man whose attempted suicide on Christmas Eve gains the attention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers) who is sent to help him in his hour of need. Most of the film is told through flashbacks spanning George's entire life and narrated by Franklin and Joseph, unseen Angels who are preparing Clarence for his mission to save George. Through these flashbacks we see all the people whose lives have been touched by George and the difference he has made to the community in which he lives. (Wikipedia)

In by gone days, church bells were rung for many occasions.   One reason for the ringing of church bells was to spread the news of the recent death.    One of my very favorite quotations is from John Donne a Jacobean metaphysical poet.   
In 1624 he wrote Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions.

Meditation 17 - (In modern word usage)

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

His words speak to me of how we are all intrinsically tied to one another through our humanity. 

We are asked to have compassion for this person and their passing, whether or not we knew them.

In ending, let me tell you exactly how I know that compassion is inherent human quality.   

Step back in time with me to my ‘other life’.    ‘My other life’ are the words I use to describe my

first marriage.   The year was 1983 and my husband Mark and I had been married for 5 years and we lived in a town less than 10 miles from his Nonna (Grandmother) and his Aunt Edna.   

Auntie Edna was a single lady who had never married.   Edna lived with Nonna and worked a full time job.

Nonna was a quiet, shy sort of woman of Northern Italian decent.   At this time in 1983 Nonna was 82 years old.

She had been in exceptional good health, not an ache or pain to speak about.   
Then in a matter of only a few weeks, she was not herself.   The clinical diagnosis was dementia.    Her mind was slipping away.

Edna was only a few years away from retirement, but quitting her job early to
take care of her Mother would have been a great hardship upon her life.   

In May of 1983 Mark and I had one child, Nicole, she was 15 months old.

I suggested to Mark that we move in with his Grandmother and Aunt.   
I was working a part time job and my hours could be adjusted to be with Nonna as
not to leave her alone.    I realized the ramifications of such a move, and was willing to do this to help out his family.   He at first was not.   I then convinced him that it was
in the best interest of his family.   

Sadly, within a matter of only a few weeks of our moving in with them, Nonna’s mind deteriorated so that not even a house full could not have cared for her, unless we
were trained nurses.   She would sleep only in increments of a couple of hours.   
She attempted to leave the house and it was also apparent she had no conception
of who we were.   Nonna was moved to a nursing home.   
Within a matter of months, she passed on.

The point of relating this story to you is something that happened during the
short time we were there.

Auntie had come home from work, we had dinner and had settled Nonna into bed.

Nicole was happily playing with her toys on the floor of the living room.   I was in the kitchen

area cleaning up.   I had a view into the living room.   
Auntie Edna was sitting on the couch.  I glanced towards her and could see her hands to her face in quiet tears.  Then the weight of the world  burst forth and it was full blown sobs.    Before I could advance towards Auntie, Nicole jumped up and RAN over to her Great Aunt.   
She laid her tiny head down in Auntie’s lap and was  patting both of her legs.   
I was stunned.    Here was this child, barely in this world one year and

three months and she was compassionately comforting her 59 year old Great Auntie.

After Nonna’s passing and for many years to come, we fondly remembered that moment. 

At 15 months old, the only explanation is that Nicole arrived with this ability, as do we all.

Compassion is a necessary component within our humanity.    

I look forward to seeing how others ‘Spread the Love NOW!’ through their blog writings.   

Thank you, Wade, Kenton and Albert.   

Three cheers for thee Three Monks. !!!

 

A Letter From Jesus About Christmas

A friend emailed me this message and I thought it was

worth passing along.   

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It's a fine line to presume what Jesus would

say but the statements are worth thinking about. 

Have a Blessed Christmas.

Letter from Jesus about Christmas

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival. Although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were.
If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless?  Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember :      I LOVE YOU, JESUS